If you asked any UK Transformers fan which year was best for
Transformers in the UK then I think 1992 would be an answer you'd hear
quite a lot. 1992 was a bad year for me personally - car crashes, two
timing girl friends, damaged backs and appendicitis featured (and that
was just the first two weeks of February !) - which meant I spent more
time at home in Kingston than at University. It's while out in
Kingston trying to walk a bit one day that I first encountered the
Predators and Turbomasters.

There aren't any other toys quite like the Predators & Turbomasters,
which represent a back to basics approach for Transformers - Autobots
are ground vehicles, Decepticons are jets. The exception are the two
mega sized toys - and they are the first Mega sized toys - which
features a flying Autobot - a Helicopter, more common as an Autobot
than a Decepticon - and a ground based but military Decepticon - a
tank.

Rotorstorm is the Autobot Helicopter, who is cast in varying shades of
blue - we'll try and sort out what is what colour in the robot mode
but most of the body is the palest blue used including the surround
for the windshield which is painted silver. The windshield and rotor
blades are cast in clear neon pink plastic - an odd shade that appears
on all this year's toys. Of particular note on the windshield is an
Autobot symbol moulded into the top. The rotors turn, but there is no
mechanism to power them.

He comes with six of the yellow Turbomaster missiles - two mount on
each landing ski (each missile has a slot in the side matching a notch
on the ski, unlike the Predator missiles which have a hole matching a
pin) - with the remaining two missiles mounting in the launchers
either side of the rotor mount. These launchers can't be fired from
here - there's a button behind the rotor mount which drops the
launchers out to the sides exposing the triggers - previously flush
with the rotor mount, now on top of the launcher - which allows the
missiles to be fired. The launchers for the missile are quite
powerful by the standards of Transformer missile launchers - probably
due to them not having to be neutered for the US market.

Transformation - deploy the launchers, then remove the launchers
themselves and fold the mechanism back up. Turn the rotor blades
round so that they are together. Separate the tail in the middle and
fold both halves forward till they are round the cockpit. Fold the
undercarriage down so it's pointing out the back of the helicopter to
form the robot legs. Fold the landing skis back round the legs and
fold the feet up. Fold the cockpit down onto the chest. Stand. Fold
the rear of the tail back behind the robot head. Fold the arms down
to the sides. Place a launcher in each hand.

Rotorstorm's robot mode is quite tall, thin and straight up & down -
we've got nothing sticking out the sides unless you leave the skis
folded out. Most of the light blue is gone, what's left is round the
shoulders and the chest. A darker grey/blue forms the upper limbs &
feet and a darker blue form the forelimbs and head. The head is
notable - the eyes are a clear pink lightpipe, the first time this
gimmick is used on a Transformer toy is on the Predator & Turbomaster
releases. As well as the missile launchers being used as hand weapons
the rotor blades can be removed and used as a sword of sorts.

His articulation is in advance of many TFs of the time - his elbows
bend, his arms fold out to the sides at the shoulders and the knee &
hips bend. Unfortunately the knees are bolted together which limits
the hip movement but the knees can still turn independently. It
wouldn't take that much work with remoulding to make the knees
independent and to make the shoulders turn which would bring the toy
close to modern articulation standards.

Rotorstorm's not a bad toy and stands up significantly well today. A
testament to his quality is that he was re-released 12 years later
with a new paint scheme !

Rotorstorm resurfaced five years later in Machine Wars, rechristened
Sandstorm - G1 Sandstorm had a helicopter mode and both have related
names. For this release the helicopter body - previously pale blue -
becomes olive green with darker tiger strip camouflage. The grey blue
for the upper limbs becomes a bronzey yellow, the darker blue of the
lower limbs becomes a darker olive green and the clear pink becomes
clear light blue. Gone is the silver paint.

Missing from this release are the missiles - if memory serves the
launchers are also neutered so they can't fire any previously released
Turbomaster missiles.

While not accurate to the G1 Sandstorm colour scheme this is
reminiscent of it in places and makes a decent and realistic repaint
of the earlier mould.

Seven years later Rotorstorm is back again as Transformers Universe
Whirl. I'd never owned the Rotorstorm mould before and
for a 92 toy it's rather good. Looks like a helicopter, nice flip
down
weapon gimmick, decent looking robot mode with slightly limited
articulation
yes..... The light blue is swapped for a darker blue, the grey blue
for beigey grey, the darker blue for grey and the pink translucent
plastic becomes a fabulous clear yellow colour which looks great
through the lightpipe in the head

Unlike the previous US release he has missiles. These aren't the
Turbomaster missile, rather a new mould featuring a + shaped end with
corresponding modification to the launchers - they won;t work with the
original launchers on Rotorstorm or another Turbomaster toy. The
missiles are moulded in burgundy, a popular colour
in the Universe toys. They would have been nicer in transparent red -
a little hobby
horse of mine about missiles - I think missiles in transparent colours
look more like laser blasts. The missiles don't include slots so
can't be mounted on the existing missile storage points on the landing
struts.

Whirl was available with two recoloured Minicons: new versions of
Gunbarrel (from the Air Military Team) and Makeshift (from the
Emergency Team)...... which is possibly a mistake - from these two
Minicon teams Prowl, the Police Car from the Emergency Team, should
have come with
him as Whirl is the only one of the Universe toys that the Minicon
teams were repackaged with that can hold Prowl in his weapon mode.
Which leads me
on to a little moan ......

One of the best things about the Armada Beast was that they'd all been
slightly remoulded to accommodate dead Minicon ports. Here there's no
remoulding in sight. Now with the Beast Machines toys recycled in
universe a minor bit of remoulding
(especially for Stockade and Fireflight) could have replaced their
spark
crystals with Minicon hard points. Whirl's still got the old missile
holders on his wings - not used for anything on this version as I
mentioned above - which would be an ideal place to put hardpoints.
I'm all for
repackaging Minicons in different colours with older toys but a little
work
on the older toy can enhance it's play value with it's new
counterparts a
great deal.

Rant over.

Another decent repaint, Rotorstorm has been served well on the
versions subsequent to his initial release.